Chipped Mask

Part I - Stay With Me Tonight Please?

Disclaimer: Mia is mine.

Warning: Death. Death. Oh yeah. More death. And fluff.

Beta: featherstofly

Editor: Sansho

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

I muttered under my breath, marching my way across the pathway and into the academy.

Instead of picking Naruto up at his usual time, Iruka sent me a message informing me that my son was serving detention and that I had to wait two more hours before picking him up. Naturally, I was a bit annoyed. I knew Naruto was a rascal, but I also knew that the majority of the teachers at the academy openly despised him. I wouldn't put it past them to punish him unfairly.

Upon entering the academy, I nearly ran into one Tsume Inuzuka. I blinked in surprise upon finding her and her faithful canine companion.

"Sorry," I apologized automatically.

Tsume gave me a feral grin. "No harm done. I don't recognize you, who are you here for?"

I smiled easily, relaxing. "Ah, Uzumaki Naruto."

An interested gleam entered her eyes. "I see."

"Tsume, who's this?"

At the voice, I immediately recognized Yoshino—Shikamaru's mother, and Akiko—Chōji's mother, who stood behind me. I quickly moved out of the way to allow them through.

"Mia," I answered. "I'm here for Naruto-chan."

Yoshino eyed me curiously. "My husband mentioned you, you're training with Jiraiya-sama, yes?"

"I was," I answered. "But he left a few months ago."

Akiko gave me a bright smile. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Akimichi Akiko, and this is Nara Yoshino and Inuzuka Tsume."

"A pleasure to meet you," I murmured, nodding to each of them.

"New mother?" Tsume asked, grinning widely.

"I guess you could say that. I'm new to Konoha and Naruto-chan was one of the first people I met, we sort of clicked," I chuckled.

"That's nice. That boy needs a good influence and a mother's hand. Kami knows he has enough troubles," Akiko said softly.

My eyes snapped in her direction, open skepticism and curiosity on my face as I studied her. Yoshino immediately caught my look, as well as Tsume. Yoshino raised an eyebrow.

"I'm used to most people frowning at my son," I answered slowly. "It's a bit of a surprise to hear someone saying something nice about him." Someone that wasn't Iruka, Hiruzen or Jiraiya. And occasionally Obito.

"I can see how that may come as a surprise," Yoshino replied. "Seeing how we're being honest, I must confess it came as a surprise that you seemingly adopted him. Even though you must have seen how the others treat him, weren't you worried about being ostracized?"

I blinked. "No? They're strangers and if they're too much of an idiot to not be able to tell two entirely different people apart then they deserve to remain in ignorance. At least, that's my opinion. Hokage-sama tells me that I should be more open-minded about them, though."

Tsume snickered. "That sounds like him, alright. What does he believe in? Everyone has a hundred chances?"

Akiko and I giggled while Yoshino smirked.